News - Pashinyan's clarification: When does a nation go from non-state to state?

Both after the 2018 revolution and after the 44-day war in 2020, the topic of the Constitution has always been in Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Public Radio of Armenia on February 1. He recalled that after the 2018 revolution, there were opinions that the Constitution should be changed and returned to a semi-presidential system. "I did not share this point of view. After the war, the idea reappeared, saying that if we had a semi-presidential system, perhaps things would have worked out differently. Frankly speaking, right after the war I started to think that way too, because there are gaps in the current Constitution in terms of the relationship between the commander-in-chief and the army, which became apparent during the war. But lately I have been talking about a new Constitution. You will ask, what is the reason for this? Lately I've been talking a lot about the relations between the Motherland and the state, about the need to strengthen state institutions. The revolution was also about citizen-state relations. We have a gap between the citizen and the state, which is expressed again by legitimacy," Pashinyan added. He noted that many analysts say: we are not a state nation, we have not yet become one. "When does the moment come when you go from being a non-state nation to becoming a state nation? That moment is the constitutional referendum, when a person goes by his own will, without coercion, without falsification, without manipulation, and reaches an agreement. In general, it is customary to fix an agreement with a handshake. I shake hands with the citizens of Armenia who took part in the voting, reach an agreement, and say: this is how we live with each other. This is the line where a nation becomes people. In this context, it does not matter what is written in the Constitution, what matters is the extent to which it has an organic connection with the people. The genetic link between the state and the people is formed from the moment the people accept and affirm this condition. In my understanding, the need to adopt a new Constitution is conditioned by this genetic link with our people and our state, a genetic link that will fill this gap, because our public perception is that the people never went and voted for it," the head of the Cabinet said, adding that legitimacy is necessary in all respects.